Editing Aruba (section)

=== Neo-Indian period: the Caquetío ===
{{See also|A.J. van Koolwijk}}
The archaic population disappeared from Aruba from the archeological record around 950 AD, shortly after the arrival of the [[Formative stage|neo-Indian]]—[[Caquetio|Caquetío]]. It is clear that the Caquetíos had a superior culture in socio-economic and technological terms. It is possible that the Caquetío lived alongside the archaic Indians for a time and that they were ultimately displaced or assimilated.<ref name=":02" />

The Caquetío belonged to the [[Arawak]] people. The origin of Arawak civilization (a name based on a linguistic classification) is located in the central [[Amazon rainforest|Amazon]] region. Between 1500 and 500 BC, the influence of the Arawaks had expanded to the [[Caribbean Basin]] and the [[The Guianas|Guianas]]. Between 850 and 1000 AD, Caquetío Indians migrated from western Venezuela, probably from the Paraguaná and Guajire peninsulas, to the [[Leeward Antilles]]. They belonged to the [[Arawakan languages|Arawak-Maipure]] language family.<ref name=":1">{{Cite thesis |last=Oliver |first=J.R. |year=1989 |title=The Archaeological, Linguistic and Ethnohistorical Evidence for the Expansion of Arawakan into Northwestern Venezuela and Northeastern Colombia |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10157455/ |journal=Doctoral Thesis (Ph.D) |publisher=University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) |access-date=2023-09-15 |type=Doctoral |via=UCL Discovery}}</ref><ref name=":2">Haviser, J.B. (1991). ''The first Bonaireans''. Archaeological-Anthropological Institute of the Netherlands Antilles.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rouse |first=Irving |url=https://archive.org/details/tainosrisedeclin00rous |title=The Tainos : rise & decline of the people who greeted Columbus |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1992 |location=New Haven |access-date=2023-09-15 |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dijkhoff |first=Raymundo A. C. F. |url=http://archive.org/details/MANA-DIG-TESIS-DIJKHOFF-1997 |title=Tanki Flip / Henriquez: an early Urumaco site in Aruba |date=1997 |publisher=Leiden : [s.n.]}}</ref> The name Caquetío refers to how this group referred to themselves during their first contact with Europeans. They had longer and narrower skulls than the archaic population, and their height was up to {{Convert|1.60|m|ft}}. The newcomers brought pottery and agriculture to the islands and are therefore classified as part of the neo-Indian period.<ref name=":02" />

==== Caquetío chiefdom ====
The area over which the legendary cacique Manaure exercised his authority was the coastal region of the current state Falcón-Zulia at Venezuela, including the Paraguaná Peninsula, as well as Aruba, [[Curaçao]] and [[Bonaire]]. The Caquetío people had a highly developed process of state formation. They had a chiefdom, which in human evolution is often a precursor to a kingdom, where central leaders—[[Paramount chief|''paramount chiefs'']]—controlled multiple subordinate political-administrative units.<ref>Sahlins, M.D. (1968). ''Tribesmen (Foundations of Modern Anthropology)'' (1st ed.). Prentice Hall. {{ISBN|978-0-13-930933-5}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> The emphasis was more on the political and religious alliances between indigenous communities than on the military control or subjugate vast territories.

At the head of the Caquetío chiefdom was a spiritual leader called ''diao'' who had both secular and religious authority in modern terms. He was endowed with powers that could influence nature: a shaman. The diao position was hereditary. By being allowed to marry multiple wives, the diao was able to establish and maintain political alliances with other groups, tribes, or villages. The chiefdom was centralized in its design, but not based on authoritarian or violence-based subjugation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thornton |first=John K. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cultural-history-of-the-atlantic-world-12501820/6AB63A6E5C61FE23397BDE51A45DA0BB |title=A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250–1820 |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-89875-1 |location=Cambridge |doi=10.1017/cbo9781139021722}}</ref> The Spanish [[conquistador]]s interrupted this process of expansion at the time of the European contact (AD 1499–1535).

==== Political units and governance ====
The Caquetío territory consisted of several small political units that were under the authority of lower "second-tier chiefs" who were subordinate to the highest authority.<ref name=":1" /> How the central authority was exercised over the units is not clear. However, there are reports from the contact period that suggest the diao did not exert his power over the lower units in arbitrary manner. Likely there was a form of consultation between the diao and lower leaders. In the 16th century, two sub-units, the [[Guaraní people|Guaranos]] and [[Amuay]]es, lived on the Paraguaná Peninsula.<ref name=":02" /> Aruba, which is less than 30 kilometers away from Paraguaná, was previously connected to one of these units.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Oliver, J.R. (1997). "Dabajuroïd Archaeological, Settlements and House structures: an overview from mainland Western Venezuela". ''The Archaeology of Aruba: the Tanki Flip Site'' (A.H. Versteeg & Rostain ed.). Aruba: Archeological museum, no. 8. {{ISBN|978-99904-85-20-2}}</ref>
[[File:Aruban-pot-AKw-541.jpg|thumb|<!-- This is how the pot is described at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam.  -->Aruban pot (before 1881). Colonial records often give a one-sided perspective on the indigenous heritage. Original inhabitants of the Caribbean had many languages and cultures. And there was considerable exchange of ideas and produce. — [[Wereldmuseum Amsterdam|Tropenmuseum]]]]
After the diao and the regional sub-units, such as the mentioned Guaranaos an Amuayes in Paraguaná, the village formed the third level of governance in the hierarchy of the chiefdom. Aruba had (not simultaneously) five villages: three larger ones Ceri Noca ([[Santa Cruz, Aruba|Santa Cruz]]), Tanki Flip ([[Noord]]), and [[Savaneta]], and two smaller ones near [[Tanki Leendert]] and [[Parkietenbos]], which have not yet been systematically studied. The location of Aruban villages varied. They were situated in places where beneficial agriculture land was available and where the most favorable [[Hydrology|hydrological]] conditions prevailed, such as where several ''rooi'' ([[Gully|gullies]]) came together and where relatively much water was available.<ref>Versteeg, A.H. (1991a). ''Toen woonden indianen op Aruba''. Aruba: Publications of the Archaeological Museum, no. 3.</ref><ref name=":2" />

==== Agriculture, trade, and network ====
The Caquetío people probably used a [[shifting cultivation]] farming method, also known as [[slash-and-burn]].<ref>Versteeg, A.; Ruiz, A.C. (1995). ''Reconstructing Brasil Wood Island: the archaeology and landscape of Indian Aruba''. Aruba: Publications of the Archaeological Museum, no. 6.</ref> The yields from agriculture and fishing were supplemented by engaging in trade of raw materials and artifacts that were not locally available or producible. Sixteenth century sources indicate that the Caquetíos traded in, among other things, salt, canoes, tobacco, and beads.<ref>Boerstra, E. (1982). ''De precolumbiaanse bewoners van Aruba, Curaçao en Bonaire''. Zutphen: De Walberg Pers.</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Versteeg |first=A.H. |url=https://archive.org/details/BNA-DIG-HARTOG-ARUBAANSAKKOORD/mode/1up |title=Arubaans Akkoord : Opstellen over Aruba van voor de komst van de olieindustrie |publisher=Stichting Libri Antiyani |year=1997 |edition=L. Alofs, W. Rutgers en H.E. Coomans |location=Bloemendaal |pages=89–102 |trans-title=Aruban Accord: Writings about Aruba from before the arrival of the oil industry |chapter=Pre-Columbian houses at Santa Cruz site |access-date=2023-04-29 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/BNA-DIG-HARTOG-ARUBAANSAKKOORD/page/88/mode/1up |url-access=registration}}</ref> The Leeward Caquetíos certainly did not live in isolation but formed outlying regions of a dynamic chiefdom with regional trading networks.<ref name=":02" />

==== Burial practices ====
In 1882 French explorer [[Alphonse Pinart|Alphonse L. Pinart]] documented an account provided by an old Aruba Indian. According to the Indian's account, witnessed at the former Indian encampment at ''Saboneta'' ([[Savaneta]]), a native female was inhumed in one of the large conical [[olla]]s. Her body was doubled up inside the vase, with the head protruding through the orifice. Subsequently, a smaller [[urn]] was placed upside down on the head, and the entire burial was covered with earth.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gatschet |first=Alb. S. |date=1885 |title=The Aruba Language and the Papiamento Jargon |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/982990 |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=22 |issue=120 |pages=299–305 |jstor=982990 |issn=0003-049X}}</ref>

The Caquetío people were buried in clusters, both within and potentially outside village boundaries. At times, there was a secondary burial, possibly reserved for exceptional individuals. In the primary burial, the deceased were buried in a large pot, covered with a smaller pot placed on top. In a secondary burial, the body was initially buried without a pot, and after a few months or years, the bones were exhumed and reburied in smaller pots for a second time. Some pots contained grave offerings such as axes, shells, and pottery. The secondary burial method was practiced until recently in South America. The striking similarity between the Neo-Indian burial practices in Aruba and the post-Columbian variant in Guajira justifies the assumption that the similar beliefs about life after death existed in both societies.<ref name=":02" />

==== Last indigenous Aruban ====
Nicolaas Pyclas was regarded as the last known indigenous Aruban. Pyclas spoke and understood the extinct language of the original inhabitants of Aruba, adhering to their way of life and customs. He resided in a hut in Savaneta. His diet included sea snails, such as ''cocolishi'' (''[[Cerion uva|Cerun uva]]'') and ''carco'' (''[[Aliger gigas]]''), as well as wild herbs. Pyclas rejected any involvement in religious practices. Around 1840, he was found dead hanging from a tree branch not far from his hut. Estimated to be approximately 50 years old, he was buried in situ and was not properly buried due to the hard rocky surface, he was only covered with a layer of earth and stones.<ref>{{Cite web |last=DBNL |year=1946 |title=De Caraïben door M.D. Latour O.P., Lux. Jaargang 4 |url=https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_lux001194601_01/_lux001194601_01_0012.php |access-date=2023-11-30 |website=DBNL |language=nl}}</ref><ref name=":05">{{Cite journal |last=Hummelinck |first=P. Wagenaar |date=1959 |title=Studies on the Physical Anthropology of the Netherlands Antilles: I: Indiaanse Skeletvondsten Op Aruba En Curaçao |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41969614 |journal=De West-Indische Gids |volume=39 |issue=2/4 |pages=77–94 |jstor=41969614 |issn=0372-7289}}</ref> Pyclas' skull was gifted to the former ''Rijks Ethnographisch Museum'', presently [[National Museum of Ethnology (Netherlands)|National Museum of Ethnology]] in Leiden, with the mediation of [[A.J. van Koolwijk]].<ref name=":05" />